One of the questions I’m asked most often is, “How do I get started as a freelance writer?” Today I’m going to give you my answer, but be warned: There is no advice that works for everyone, and my path will likely not be your path. Also, there is no magic bullet or golden ticket. …

Let’s face it: For all but a select few, novel writing (or any form of creative writing like poetry, short stories, etc.) is not a lucrative career. Or even a reasonable income at all. It can be, but it often isn’t. And even if you do end up making money from fiction, it’s often only …

I’ve been writing in one form or another my entire working life and there’s very little that I haven’t tried. First, it was marketing materials and grants. Then I transitioned into technical and corporate writing. I’ve written for blogs and online magazines, written evergreen content for websites, articles for newspapers and academic journals, textbooks, and …

When people think of someone as being a writer, they often think in terms of books. Fiction, non-fiction, memoir, and scholarly books all come to mind as “writerly” pursuits. And certainly books are a noble goal and worth writing if that’s what you want to do. However, there are many more ways to make money …

Many years ago, when I was just starting out as a freelancer, I was asked to write a piece about a subject that made me very uncomfortable. Furthermore, I didn’t agree with the angle of the piece and I felt like the client was intentionally trying to be inflammatory. I wanted to say no, that …